The controller is codenamed Leonardo The controller can be extremely customizable to meet different accessibility needs
In the Sony’s CES 2023 presentation, the company revealed that it’s working on a new accessible controller kit with the codename “Project Leonardo”.
Sony has announced in an official blog post that they had been in contact with advocates for accessibility in video games such as AbleGamers as well as SpecialEffect to design the controller which is “highly adjustable” and “works together with a range of accessibility devices from third parties.”
Leonardo’s kit includes PlayStation 5 face and trigger buttons that can be switched between a large circular gamepad and the joystick that can be moved relative to the gaming pad. It also comes with accessories of a variety of sizes and shapes to allow “players to choose a layout that is suitable for their strengths as well as their range of motion and specific physical requirements,” and comes with 4 3.5mm aux jacks for plugging into third-party accessibility equipment like Microsoft’s Adaptive Controller.
Leonardo could be utilized as a separate controller, or as an integrated pair with the PS5’s DualSense wireless controller making it flexible for a wide range of accessibility requirements. Leonardo’s ability to customize physical buttons is enhanced by the software options available. Leonardo allows users to assign functions to various buttons, and save three different configurations in profiles for ease to use.
Although Sony’s first-party titles have done pretty well in providing a variety choices for accessibility -for example, both The Last of Us and God of War Ragnarok have been awarded Game Awards for accessibility -however, it’s not the best in the realm accessibility of hardware. Microsoft has released the Adaptive Controller in 2018 and in 2021, it introduced the program where developers could make their own games available to Microsoft to be evaluated for accessibility and to be tested by players with disabilities.
Project Leonardo is still in development and there is no word regarding a date for its release.
